We are now accepting proposals for the 2006 Rocky Mountain MLA convention inTucson, October 12-14 2006.

The Special Topic Session: "Undergraduate Unplugged: Literature Matters" islooking for submissions from undergraduate students who have declared Englishas their major or who are still contemplating whether English is the way togo for them. At the very least (and most), we would like potentialparticipants to have a passion for literature and a desire and compulsion to write andtalk about that passion. RM/MLA provides an opportunity to undergraduates totest the waters, so to say, and to immerse themselves in the profession. Asa regional subdivision of MLA, RM/MLA allows undergraduates a first encounterwith public presentations and professional discourse in a comfortable andsupportive environment.

The panel, or panels (we can run as many as two), are reserved forundergraduates engaged in the study of literature--British, American or World,stretching from medieval to pop culture. We are looking for proposals that bestrepresent the academic potential of these students and that thoroughly engagewith the text at hand. All approaches are welcome, all literatures areappreciated, and submissions from all years are anticipated--freshman papers willreceive the same consideration as senior papers. We will accept as many as 8proposals and reserve two more spots for students who are interested in runningthe panel discussions.

Please announce this call in your classes and invite your students to submita 250 word abstracts (or a request to be involved in the organization of thepanels) by March 15th, 2006 to Andrew McCarthy atandrew_mccarthy_at_mail.wsu.edu or Verena Theile at vtheile_at_wsu.edu. Attachments should be in Word or RTFformat. Please include a presentation title and a brief sketch explaining howthe paper originated and where in the program the writer is located.Encourage your students to submit their own work, please, since we need to be ableto contact them directly and provide them with the necessary conferenceinformation.